A shipment is defined as a dispatch of goods from one party to another, where the customer ID, delivery address, ship-via, and delivery terms are the common denominators for all the order lines. One shipment ID can contain a number of order lines from different orders, as long as the customer ID, delivery address, ship-via, and delivery terms are the same on all the lines. Thus, a shipment can be useful if you want to handle several customer orders as one unit and dispatch the goods to one address. The shipment facilitates one single point of entry, handling, and delivery of a shipment.
A shipment process will include initiating a shipment, connecting order lines to the shipment, picking and reporting, defining a package structure, creating transport labels and shipment documents, delivery and sending the dispatch advice.
A shipment process will include different stages such as Preliminary, Complete, and Closed. When a shipment is initiated, it assumes the Preliminary stage. At this stage, you can make changes to the shipment and also print the preliminary shipment documents. When a shipment is in the Preliminary stage, you can make a transition to the Complete stage. You should note however, that it is also possible to convert a shipment in the Complete stage back to a Preliminary stage, as long as the shipment has not been delivered. The final stage of a shipment is when it reaches the Closed stage. At this point, no further changes to the content of the shipment is allowed and it is considered final. All shipment documents printed thereafter, will also be considered as final. If a shipment is in the Preliminary or Complete stage, you can make a transition to Finalize Shipment. By doing so, the shipment will automatically perform all the necessary shipment activities until it reaches the Closed stage.
Shipment is beneficial to companies in repetitive manufacturing, especially those operating within the automotive and electronics industries. Such companies benefit from shipment in terms of accuracy, flexibility, and traceability. Using a shipment, companies are given the opportunity to efficiently dispatch goods to the customer, thus maintaining good service levels.
There is no basic data requirements as such prior to using the shipment function. However, it will be useful to note the following:
Among the basic shipment information such as the ship-via, delivery terms, and forward agent ID, default values are retrieved from the customer's delivery address specified on the shipment when it is initiated. You can modify these default values, but note that if the address details, ship-via and delivery terms are modified after lines have been connected to the shipment, this will not be automatically updated in the connected order lines.
With regard to generating the package structure, you should note that it is not a must for a shipment to have a package structure. However, to enable generating a structure if needed, the following must be maintained in advance:
The shipment process allows for much flexibility in the order delivery process, and thereby facilitates the following:
A shipment process enables proactive shipment planning and re-planning. The process enables you to create preliminary shipments, containing order lines in either the Released, Reserved, or Partially Delivered status from various orders, and then you can work with the connected order lines. The shipment process as detailed above will generally include a number of activities and different stages.
In order to initiate a shipment, you need to first enter the customer, site, and delivery address. With this initial information, other information such as delivery terms, ship-via, and the forward agent ID connected to the customer is automatically included in the shipment. You must note that, you can create a shipment automatically when an order is released or when the pick list is created. However, this is only possible if the order line has the Shipment Creation option Create New Shipment at Order Release or Create New Shipment at Pick List Creation, which appears as default from the Customer/Address/Order Address Info tab in the customer order header and will be copied to the order lines having the same default values.
Once the shipment has been initiated, it is possible to connect order lines in the Released, Reserved, or Partially Delivered status to the shipment. You should note that at this stage, it is already possible to print preliminary documents such as delivery notes and consignment notes. However, before a package structure has been defined for the shipment, these documents will not be complete. Defining a package structure can be done automatically or manually. When executed automatically, each package unit is cross-referenced against an order line connected to the shipment. When created manually the order lines connected to the shipment are manually connected to the package structure, or chosen not to be connected at all. The ability to automatically generate a package structure enables an accurate weight and volume calculation of each container. It also provides the ability to track and trace individual containers and their exact contents in terms of quantity, part number, customer order line, and lot/batch number and serial number. You can make modifications to the automatically created package structure by adding, deleting, or moving packages and handling units within the structure as desired, and also by modifying the calculated weight and volumes.
Once an order line is connected to a shipment, it will no longer be possible to handle the line in the traditional order flow. For example, picking must be reported in the Shipment window. Likewise, other shipment activities such as reservation, defining a package structure, delivery, and printing of shipment documents must all be performed in the same Shipment window.
The Create Pick List right mouse button option in the shipment header enables a consolidated pick list to be created. However, this is not possible unless some quantity has been reserved. Once the pick list is created, and picking is performed, you can proceed to report picking or to report picking with differences using the right mouse button options in the shipment header. With this approach, it is possible to prepare a shipment at an early stage, and to prepare documents and booking proposals in advance.
You can print the following documents from a shipment. You must note that each of these documents can be printed at various stages in the shipment process, but they will not be final until the shipment is closed.
For delivery of a shipment, only order lines that have been picked partially or completely can be registered as delivered. The difference compared to the existing order flow is that the delivery in the shipment process is based on the order lines connected to a shipment rather than a specific order.
You can send and resend a dispatch advice manually, once the delivery of the shipment is done. However, this is only possible if you maintain the parameter as DESADV on the customer, on the Customer/Message Setup tab. Furthermore, if you wish to automatically send a dispatch note, you should select the Send Automatically check box on the Customer/Order/Misc Customer Info tab.
Closure of the shipment can be automatic or manual. Using the Finalize Shipment right mouse button option enables the automatic closure of the shipment as a result of performing all necessary shipment activities. The shipment being closed means that the goods have left the sender, and no further changes to the content of the shipment is allowed. The only activities still allowed when a shipment is closed, is to send or resend the dispatch advice, print shipment documents and transport labels.
The purpose of delivery confirming an order is to confirm the customer's acceptance of a shipment prior to it being invoiced. Depending on the agreement a company has with its customers, the following scenarios are possible:
Delivery confirmation is performed as soon as goods are shipped. No interaction is required from the user.
This is usually preformed by a responsible Sales person. The customer notifies the seller that the shipment has been received and is accepted, which is followed by confirming acceptance.
Delivery confirmation is performed via data received in an incoming message.